Second Chances
by peanut0565
Summary: For Everyone. After s4.
1. Chapter 1

_This a 5 months after s4 ending _

He was sitting in the recliner in the dark living room. Only light shown from the kitchen, that shown the back of his head. He stared absentmindedly at the tv, which wasnt turned on. A bottle of scotch loosely hanged from his fingers of his right hand. He was on the verge of sleeping, but didnt fall asleep. 

He spent many a night like this since they had come and told him the dreaded news. The dreaded news that would throw him into a drunken oblivian(sp?), not that anyone cared. He had no one left. His wife had died few years back. He thought that was hard. This was alot harder, almost killing. His son was taken away from him. His only child. His pride and joy. How could a parent bury a child, he would think to himself. Well now he was considered that parent, who had to bury their child. It was beyond words of how much it hurt. The drink would numb it some, but not enough. He felt guilt, grief, and anger. Anger towards the government and himself. Guilt for not being a better father. And grief for his son.

When he was sober enough he would go visit his grave. They had consequently placed the grave next to his son's wife, which seemed fitting enough. His granddaughter was in denial the whole time, up until the burial. Thats when she broke down finally. Of course dear old grandpa had to comfort her, when he could barely deal with it himself.

He heard knocking on his door, as he yawned looking at the door. He passed it off as nothing and took another sip of the almost gone scotch.

The knocking came again, but louder this time. He glared at the door, not wanting to get up. He sighed heavily, setting the scotch down on the small table next to the recliner where the remote to the tv was as well, he glanced at the clock as he was getting up. It was 10 pm. He blinked a few times, manuvering through the reckage of his house to the door, he hadnt been in any shape mentally to clean, so it just piled up on him.

He got to the door and opened it. There was a man there with a box that looked like there was a living thing in it, at his feet.

"Mr. Richard Bauer?" The man asked. Richard absentmindedly nodded in response to his own name.

"This is for you" The man handed him a letter, and also pointed to the box. Richard took the letter, and opened it. Before he started to read it he glanced up to see the man was gone, and now he was alone on the porch of his house in the dim light of the door lights. He read the contents of the letter slowly. Almost half way through getting done with it he dropped the letter in shock, staring at the box.

The box was like an animal crate, 6 feet long by 3 feet wide. He quickly pulled the box in carefully, and closed the door behind it. He flipped on the entry way light and looked at the box. It had 'fragile' stamped all over it. It was dirty, like it had seen many places.

He scrambled quickly to get something that could open this. He came back with a hammer just as quickly. He could barely breathe, and his heart was in his throat, at what the letter said was in the box. He quickly and nonchalantly pried off the boards 1 by 1.

Once the box was opened, he dropped the hammer and looked in it for the first time. He sat there shocked staring at what was inside. He couldnt believe his eyes. He rubbed them, and looked at what was inside again. He knelt down and placed his hands inside. He pulled out a prone body and laid it on the carpet. He then placed to fingers on the body's neck.

He gasped, he was alive. He was alive! that was all he could think of. He didnt even take note of how gaunt and injured his son looked, just the fact that he was alive was enough. 

After a minute of this overwhelmingness, he looked at his son even closer. He was ghost pale, and frail looking. Cuts and lacerations covered his arms, legs, and face. Along with bruises, his eyes looked swollen shut. Four of his ten fingers were missing, two on each hand. His clothing was tattered and caked with mud, and blood. Richard filled with sorrow then, his son had been through so much by the looks of it, and he couldnt do a thing. The letter said that this couldnt go public, it would cause to much trouble for them, it said.

Richard sighed, as he gathered his son in his arms and moved him shakingly to one of the guest bedrooms, actually his son's old bedroom before he moved out. Richard laid him on the bed. 

"Everythings going to be alright now, Jack" He said to his currently unconcious son.

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Richard had moved out of the room and went hastily into his own room. He pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. Luckily for him, his son was basically same height and built as he was maybe just a hair shorter, but that didnt matter. He then went into the bathroom and pulled out the whole drawer itself that contained all his first aid kit stuff, also some towels and a basin of water. He went back into the room where he had placed his son and flipped on the switch.

Jack still laid undisturbed by his surroundings on top of the bed. Richard moved to him dropping all the items he had gathered on the side of the bed. Richard sighed heavily as he began to strip Jack of his clothing, wincing every time he found a newer wound that he had yet seen, as well as wincing at the older scars that he already knew about.

"What kind of hell have you been through my boy?" He asked aloud as he got Jack down to the point where he was just in his boxers. He then pulled out one of the towels he had grabbed and dapped it in the water. He then proceeded to clean off Jack in what would be almost like a sponge bath. He had gotten to his right hand, his pinky and middle finger were missing on this hand. He sighed heavily taking off the dried blood, trying not to touch the stub of the fingers he had left. He had hit it without noticing at first then the whole hand moved. Richard was slightly shocked by this as the fingers wrapped tightly to the cover below it as if in pain. 

"Jack?" Richard glanced to the face. His mouth had opened as if in a silent gasp of pain. He was awake.

"Im sorry" Richard apologized, patting the hand softly. Jack's hand relaxed.

"Can you speak?" Richard observed Jack's face closely. There was a good ammount of time before Jack had responded with a slow head shake.

"Thats okay...dont worry I have you now. Everythings' going to be fine, Son" Richard bit back tears.

He absolutely hated seeing his son like this. It was worse then the time that Jack showed up on his doorstep, being addicted to heroin. Richard could tell that Jack had relaxed some. Richard continued to clean Jack off as much as he could, and placed bandages on his wounds. He got some in-pain reactions from Jack, but managed to keep him relatively calm through the process. Richard was only able to slide the sweat pants on his son, before he was too tired. His torso was injuried enough anyways, and it would only cause more anguish for Jack, which he didnt want. He just wanted Jack to rest peacefully for now, so he could get better.

By the time he was done it was around 3am, he had glanced at the clock then back at Jack. Who seemed to be asleep, but Richard couldnt really tell since Jack's eyes were swollen shut. Richard realized that Jack was in a cold sweat. He placed his hand on Jacks' forehead, to find it burning up. Richard only assumed that to be natural, to have a fever after all of which happened to his body. He managed to get the covers of the bed over Jack.

After all that Richard was tired, he stumbled out of the room and flipped the light off in Jacks' room. He then slowly made his way to his room, stopping at the foot of his bed, and basically collapsing on the bed with a soft thud. He was beat tired, but still didnt want to fall asleep. Finally the fatigue won and he fell asleep.

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Richard awoke after hearing a loud thud coming from the other room. He pushed himself up onto his elbows on his bed, shaking his head slightly. He was in a definitly large hangover. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, ignoring the noise he heard at first. He yawned and moved to his bathroom. He glanced in the mirror for the first time in months to see he looked positively terrible. He splashed some water on his face and cleaned himself up some, along with taking 4 advil for the killer headache.

He pulled on some sweat pants that he lounged around in all the time and walked out into the hallway and down to Jacks' room, walking in. The room was dark still, though it was 9 in the morning. He walked over to the window and pulled up the shades letting in some light. He then looked to the bed to see Jack wasnt there. His eyebrows raised in confusion and slight panic quickly as he scanned the room. He then found Jack, half tangled in the covers, on the floor.

"Trying to get up are we?" He asked allowed half amused by the position of which his son was in. He walked over to Jack and knelt down, picking him up and putting him on the bed.

"Your alot lighter then I remember" He half joked. The last time Richard had to actually 'carry' Jack, was when they went out for a friendly beer, which turned into some wild party at the bar, and Richard had to drag Jack home finally. 

"very...funny..." Jack coughed, resting his head on the headpost of the bed in a half sitting up in the bed.

"He can speak!" Richard said aloud half amused, but happy to actually hear his voice.

"How are you feeling?" Richard asked, sitting on the edge of the bed that was unoccupied. 

"Like...shit..." His voice was off, it was raspy and quiet, and he had to pause between each word.

"You look like shit" Richard remarked.

"Im...Thirstttyyy..." His words slurred some.

"Okay I'll get yea some water" Richard answered getting up and moving out of the room.

He swiftly sauntered into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. When he got back to the room, Jack was still, his head was leaning on his right shoulder. Richard moved up to him setting the water on the night stand and realized Jack had fallen asleep. He sighed heavily. 'thats some improvement...i think' He thought to himself.

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Richard came through the front door holding several bags. He shut the door behind him with his foot and walked into the living room placing the several bags down on the couch. Before he dug through them he walked to Jacks' room to make sure he was alright. He peeked it quietly to find Jack hadnt moved since that morning, propably still asleep.

He walked back into the living room to where he had left the bags. The first 2 bags were from target, the last one was from the grocery store. He dug through the first one tossing out the cloths that he had bought for Jack, and placed them on the table behind him. He went to the next bag and it was all first aid supplies, to treat Jacks' wounds, he set them aside. The last bag was from the grocery store, he grabbed that one and went into the kitchen and started to unload the items into there perspective places.

Suddenly he heard the breaking of glass noise coming from Jack's room. His ears perked up and he jerked his head towards Jack's room. The crashing noise followed by a barely audiable groan. Richard dropped what he was doing quickly and almost literally sprinted to Jacks' room.

He stopped in the door way to see Jack half hanging onto the bed and half falling off. His head and arms were off the other side of the bed. He moved around to the other side of the bed, to see the glass of water he had brought in before splattered all over the ground and Jacks' hands, cutting the bandages open.

"If you wanted a drink, you could have just asked me..." Richard stated grabbing Jacks' shoulders and pushing him gently back onto the bed. 

"Thirrssttyyy..." Jack mumbled softly, as Richard got him leaning against the head of the bed with pillows.

"I figured...just hold on" Richard picking up the shattered glass and disposing it in the waste basket in the corner of the room. 

"thirsty..." Jack continued to mumble quietly like a broken record.

"Just hold your horses" Richard huffed as he moved out into the kitchen and got Jack another glass of water. He came back into the room quickly and sat down on the edge of the bed close to Jack, holding the glass to Jack's bottom lip.

"Its water" He said, pushing the glass to Jack's parched lips. Jack drank as quickly as he could. He started to choke, coughing some. Richard pulled the glass away, and put it on the night stand, as Jack coughed water out.

"Not so fast..." Richard said. Richard noticed that blood was mixed in with the water that he was coughing up. Jack coughed a few more times, spitting up some more blood. Then finally he spit out one of his teeth, and that ended his coughing session. Richard saw this, and wondered how bad his mouth was.

"Open your mouth" He told Jack. Jack paused for a second then slowly opened his mouth a little.

"More then that" Richard said. Jack opened it as much as he could. Richard saw that most of Jacks' teeth were missing. There were only about 7-10 left in his mouth, and his gums were just bleeding and swollen.

"Alright son you can close your mouth" Richard placed his hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack closed his mouth slowly.

"its...bad isntt it..." Jack sighed softly. 

"Its definitly not Good..." Richard answered back.


	2. Chapter 2

After a week and a half Jack's swollen eyes had gone back to normal, he could open them now and was strong enough to move about the house. Richard was happy to see his son healing, but what now. Jack couldnt very well go outside, he was considered dead, and Richard had no idea what happened anyways.

"I have to call Tony" He announced to his father as he came out of his room, to see Richard on the couch watching tv.

"Tony knows your alive?" Richard asked turning the tv off.

"Yes he helped me get out, I have to call him when something goes wrong" Jack stated, pulling out the phone book and looking up Tony's number.

"Who else knows?" Richard asked standing up and moving over to the opposite side of the counter, facing Jack.

"President Palmer, Chloe, and Michelle" Jack sighed heavily as he dialed Tony's number.

"Almeida." Tony was still in the habit of answering the phone like that.

"Tony, Its Jack" Jack replied. There was a silence.

"What happened?" Tony finally asked.

"My cover was blown in Rome. The chinese got to me and sent me ironically to my fathers' house after they were done." Richard heard that he was in Rome, and was mildly suprised by that.

"Your at your fathers' house now!" Tony asked almost not believeing what he was hearing. 

"Yea, ive been here for a week and a half." Jack stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You musta nearly gave him a heart attack" Tony half joked.

"Yea i think i did..." Jack replied in a some what embrassed tone.

"What do we do now?" Jack then asked.

"Well i know President Palmer has been trying to clear your name ever since. He keeps me updated every so often, hes getting close. Hes really dedicated Jack. I think he feels guilty about what happened to you" Tony explained.

"I made my own choice...and i got the consequences" Jack sighed heavily, putting his hand his eyes. 

"Yea... But ill come over now, to see how its holding up over there, and see if we need to move you or something." Tony said.

"Okay see yea then" Jack replied, then they hung up.

"Tony's coming over" Jack said to his father.

"You were in Rome?" Richard couldnt get past that.

"Yea, I went under a different name, and got a passport. That allowed me to get over to Europe. Ive been travelling around Europe ever since." Jack explained.

"How was that?" Richard asked.

"I was being chased the whole time...thats why I had to keep moving... Someone blew my cover in Paris, and finally they caught up with me in Rome" Jack sighed heavily sitting down on the bar stool, putting his head in his hands.

"Im sorry Son" Richard placed his hand on Jacks' back.

Richard answered the door. It was Tony, he arrived about 2 hours after Jack had called him. Jack had went to take a nap after he had called Tony and was still asleep.

"Let me wake him up" Richard smiled as Tony sat down on his couch. Richard went to Jacks' room and placed his hand on Jack's shoulder, bringing him around. Jack walked out into the living room where Tony was on his feet and moving towards him. Richard sat down at watched Tony hug Jack in a friendly way. 

"Its good to see you" Tony smiled weakly, after he got a good look at the roughed up condition Jack was in.

"Likewise" Jack replied as Tony sat down on the couch and himself the chair opposite of the couch.

Jack then proceeded to explain what happened between when Tony dropped him off outside of CTU until now. This took 2 hours, literally, and Jack wasnt even going into details. Richard and Tony basically remained silent through the explanation. Then after Richard realized something.

"Kristine is coming back tonight..." He said aloud, kind of randomly. 

"Kristine?" Jack asked.

"Whos Kristine?" Tony asked.

"Shes Carols' daughter. She was at camp fo the last month. Shes coming back tonight" Richard explained.

"Where's Carol?" Jack asked. Richard looked to him, not wanting to explain to him that his sister had died 2 months ago.

"Shes...dead Jack" Richard sighed heavily.

"What? how" Jack asked instantly.

"there was a car accident 2 months ago, a drunk driver slammed into the drivers' side of her car. She died in the ER. Kristine survived though, she is partically paralyzed in the left leg, but other then that shes okay. She lives with me now" Richard explained. Jack looked as if he were to cry, he and Carol were very close. He was very protective of her, and she was the same to him.

"Im sorry Jack" Tony sighed heavily, thinking this would be a good time for him to leave. He got up and said good bye to the men and exitted the house quietly.

That night...

"Grandpa!" Kristine dropped her backpack at the door after closing it behind her.

"Kristi!" Richard smiled walking up to her, he wanted to tell her about Jack before she went into the living room where he was and found out about it herself.

"I had such a good time!" Kristi hugged him with one arm as the other was in the slot of the cane she had especially made for her and it braced around her forearm.

"Glad to here it sweetie, now I have something to tell you" Richard said pulling her back to look her in the face. Kristi just turned 13, and she was a very intelligent girl, she was remarkably like her mother. Richard loved that and hated it at the same time, seeing his daughter in his granddaughter all the time.

"Uncle Jack is here" Richard announced bluntly.

"Uncle Jack is dead, Grandpa. Remember? We went to his funeral" Kristi wasnt exactly getting it.

"Hes not dead, Kristi, the government faked his death to save his life." Richard said. Kristi started to cry then, she had taken that very hard. She and Jack were very close, almost closer then he was with Carol, if that were possible.

"Thats impossible" she said through her silent tears.

"Hes in the living room, see for yourself" Richard said, moving out of the way. Kristi hobbled into the living room to stop dead infront of Jack, gawking in astonishment.

"Uncle Jack!" She cried as she flung herself into Jacks' arms.

"Hey Kristi..." He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. 

"I missed you so much!" She said continueing to hug him, not wanting to let go.

"I missed you too" He said kissing her on the forehead as he did everytime he saw her before this all happened. She pulled back and looked at him, tears of joy streaming down her face.

"Are you here to stay?" She asked.

"For now..." Kristi's eyes light up like they did when he last saw her, she was so happy.

Jack and Kristi were sitting on the couch, and Richard was sitting on the recliner. They were all infront of the tv, watching the Ring 2.

"No way Deer wouldn't do that!" Kristi shouted at the tv.

"They dont even look real" Richard commented.

Jack didn't say much, he just watched the movie, along with what family he had left. It was some good quality time with Kristi and his father. He hadnt had this good of time in...years even. And yet all they were doing was watching a movie. No one spoke of Carol, nor what happened to Jack or Kristi. They just were enjoying the movie, munching on popcorn, and laughing at how bad the movie was.

"Deer dont attack like that do they!" Kristi stated, looking to Jack then back to the tv.

"They eat plants, I dont think so..." Jack smiled.

"Thats what i thought, but come on seriously..." Kristi mumbled.

"You were the one that said this movie was good!" Jack poked.

"My friend said i needed to watch it!" She judisfied the picking of this movie.

"Well tell your friend she has bad taste..." Richard said looking to them.

"No duh, Grandpa" Kristi laughed.

"Well it is the funniest scary movie Ive ever seen..." Jack said as if defending the movie though he really wasnt. Kristi grabbed the remote and turned the tv off.

"I cant stand watching that whole thing!" She said looking at them. 

"O good im not the only one" Jack laughed grabbing the remote from her. "lets see if theres a hockey game on" He suggested as he flipped the channels.

"Hockey! YES!" Kristi always loved hockey, she had played before the crash but now she could only watch.

"Alright kids...Im going to go make some dinner for us" Richard announced standing up and going to the kitchen, leaving Jack and Kristi some uncle/niece time.

Jack found a hockey game finally. San Jose's Sharks verses the Minnesota Wild. It was the 3rd period. The Wild were up 3 to 0.

"The Wild have a good team this year" Kristi commented.

"How are the sharks this year?" Jack asked.

"They are 0-3 right now" Kristi sighed.

"And The Wild?" Jack asked again, knowing full well Kristi was the one to ask for current Hockey statistics.

"4-1" She smiled. 

"thats minnesota for yea..." Jack knew the Minnesota team always did well, ever since they got one back again in 2000.

"what do you expect...they are on the border with Canada!" Kristi remarked.

"True..." Jack smiled.

They watched the game, shouting at the tv from time to time, cheering for a team in their state of california, but was getting half ticked off with the wild kicking their asses. The end of the period and game, the wild had scored 2 more times on the sharks, for an end score of 5 to 0. A shut out for the wild.

"They are good this year" Jack said clearly impressed.

"I told yea" Kristi said in a matter of fact tone.

"Dinners ready!" Richard then shouted from the kitchen.

Three days had passed since Kristi came. Richard was out getting more groceries, and other stuff. Now there were three of them, instead of him and Kristi. Which was good, the more the marrier, he shrugged it off. Money was never a problem with the bauer family. Richard had retired a very decorated officer, and also won a lawsuit, sueing against one of the food companies. He sighed heavily at the memory, poor 14 year old Carol had to spend a month in the hostipal for that.

Kristi was just eating some cereal with Jack at the house when there was a knocking on the door. Jack was about to get up anyways so he went to answer the door. Kristi shrugged it off, completely not remembering what day it was until Jack answered the door. He opened the door, and just stood there for a second in aw at the woman before him with a little boy at her side. There was a long erie silence, before Kristi realized who it was without even looking. She half mentally kicked herself standing up and moving over to Jack quickly.

"Jack!" The woman stuttered half. The boy standing next to her looked up at his mother, in half wonder.

"Nat" Jack replied, both were just kind of staring at each other. Kristi came up behind Jack then.

"Hey Nat" She greeted her.

"Kristi!" The boy squealed finally seeing Kristi and running towards her basically.

"Hey kristi, could you take Matthew off for awhile, I need to speak with Jack alone" Nat told Kristi. Kristi nodded politely and took Matthews' hand and lead him off into her room. Jack didnt even look at the boy, he was still in shock that Nat was standing on his father's house's doorstep.

"Can I come in?" Nat asked, she had obviously regained some control of the shock. This brought Jack back some.

"Uhh. Yea of course" He stuttered halfly, moving out of the way, letting Nat come in. Jack noticed she hadnt changed a bit, since he remembered seeing her last.

"You look great" Jack commented as they went into the living room and sat down.

"You dont look bad either..." Nat smiled weakly, though through her eyes he did look aweful, at least since the last time she saw him.

"so you are a mother now? Thats great" Jack commented, he was aware of the boy, partically, but didnt give him a decent look-over. 

"Yea, Matthew is good, like his father" Nat continued to smile weakly.

"O thats good, so who's the Father?" Jack always talked to her like a close friend, though they hadnt spoke for 5 years now. They had gone out when him and Teri were separated, before Nina, but had to break up because Nat was moving to New York for a few years.

There was a long silence. 

"You." Nat said, trying to read Jack's reaction. Jack had nearly stopped breathing.

"Hes going to be 5 years in a couple of weeks" Nat added. Jack was back in his shell-shock state.


	3. Chapter 3

It felt like forever before Jack replied to Nat.

"Why didnt you tell me that you were pregnant?" Jack asked. He remembered Nat had left him. She had told him that he had made a comentment(sp?) to Teri, and should keep with it, no matter the feelings they had. She had gone to New York then. He wanted to go after her that day she left his house, but then thought about what she had said. She was right, of course, as always.

"I didn't know til I was in New York. And I thought you and Teri would be back together by then anyways." Nat answered. She had dialed his number many times in her apartment after finding this out, trying to tell him, but she hung up the phone each time before Jack could have the chance to answer.

"I loved you though..." Jack thought about it, his feelings for Nat had never changed, even now he still loved her. She was still the most beautiful, compassionate woman he had ever meet. He never had these kinds of feelings for Teri. Yes, he did love her to an extent, but that was more of a growned to love kind of thing, because of one night of wild sex, which ended up getting Teri pregnant. He loved Teri in a high school way, but with Nat. Nat was something else. He truely thought they were soulmates, if there ever was such a thing.

"So did I jack, but you had Teri and Kim to think about then" Nat said. "But then I heard about that day you saved the former President Palmer, before he was president. I tried calling you after that, to see how you were then." Nat continued.

"You didnt answer my calls, or return my messenges." She added.

"I didn't get any of your messenges..." Jack said trying to recall that time. He then thought he never checked his messenges after Teri had died. He was too bent on his own chronic depression then.

"A year after Matthew was born I moved back to LA, to try meet up with you again. Conciencadently I moved in right across the street from your father. I didnt realize that til I tried to find him, looking for you. He had told me you were off on some mission, and didnt know when you'd be back. I introduced him to his grandson, but told him not to tell you until I had a chance to speak with you" Nat explained. 

"I hadnt seen my father since I went to him about that under cover mission...to tell him to look after Kim for me, if he could..." Jack added finally.

"Everything went by so fast and before I knew it you were off in DC. Your father told me about your addiction, and thats why you werent around, and you moved to DC after CTU fired you" Nat started again.

"Dam, he gossips to much..." Jack sighed heavily.

"Yea..." Nat nodded her head softly. She then dared to stand up and venture over to him, taking a risk by drapping her arm over his shoulders. 

"I am so glad to see you alive. Deep down I always knew you were alive. I knew it." Nat answered.

"I missed you..." Jack then looked at her, kissing her on the lips without even realizing what he was doing til he was in the process. He was going to pull back, but it felt so right. Nat didnt seem to be pulling back out of inappropriateness either, they continued to kiss each other. Finally, soulmates reunited after years.

"What if he hates me?" Jack asked looking at Nat with concern.

"He doesnt hate you, Jack, he thinks your superman or something..." She replied. Jack gave her a quizical look.

"Yea, He asked me last year about you. Difficult question to answer really, I must say. But I got it sorted out, and gave him an old picture I had of us to him. Its cute really, its framed sitting on the nightstand of the room. He wanted to meet you so badly, it was heartbreaking really. Especially at the funeral..." Nat explained. It truely was heartbreaking to watch her son clam up basically, and hide in his room for hours. Kristi was the one that finally got him talking again, but Nat would often catch Matthew with his door slightly open, him sitting on his bed, holding the picture.

"Hes really mature for his age..." Nat sighed. Jack sighed heavily. He didnt know what hurt more, not knowing about Matt, or hearing what he just heard.

"Well let us introduce you two to each other formally now" Nat smiled weakly, standing up.

"What if he doesnt recognize me from the picture?" Jack looked up at her from his seat.

"Stop worrying, Jack" Nat waved him off then went off down the hall to Kristi's room, where the 2 were.

"Matt, Honey, come here, I want you to meet someone" Nat said standing in the doorframe. Kristi and him were playing the board game Sorry!.

"Yes Momma" Matthew answered back, standing up. He looked to his mother and then back to Kristi.

"Ill be right back...dont do anything to the board..." He gave her a suspicious look. That resembled his father's 'dont fuck with me' look, so much so, it almost sent a chill down Kristi's back, but she had grown use to this look coming from the 4 year old, at first it sent a chill down her spine though, remembering the few times Jack had done that to her. She gave him an innocently playful look.

"Have you ever known me to cheat, Matt?" Kristi asked as if she was innocent of all crimes. 

"Yes!" He answered.

"I promise i wont touch anything" Kristi laughed.

"I will find out if you have" He looked at her like he was serious about it. He then turned around to Nat and sauntered over to her. Nat smiled at Matthew's alertness. Kristi has never cheated him, but he always acted like she had. It was funny to watch. Nat patted him on the head, letting her hand run threw the short dirty blonde hair on his head. Matt was alot shorter then his friends, he was like the runt of the group. They sort of picked on him for it, but it never seemed to affect him that much, at least Nat couldn't tell. Nat guided him out into the living room.

Jack looked at the small boy as Nat had guided him to infront of Jack. He remained sitting as he looked the boy over, he did see alot of himself in the boy, it was erie almost. How could Nat handle that even, hed never know. He noticed that Matthew was observing him the same way he was matthew.

"Matthew, this is your Father" Nat had knelt down to his level and looked to him. Matt looked to Nat, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. 

"But...Momma...You said...He died..." He said it slowly in a very confused tone.

"I know what I said Honey..." Nat sighed. Matthew looked to Jack again, then back to Nat.

"He doesnt even look like Dad..." Matthew had noticed all the deformations and healing wounds Jack had. 

"Matthew..." Nat said in a warning tone, seeing Jacks' expression was as if he was wounded, looking down at the ground, almost as if he were to cry.

"But Momma..." Matthew said definatly, truely believing he was right.

"Matthew" Jack spoke up then, putting his hand on Matt's chin, gently moving to have Matt look Jack straight in the eyes.

"What the people told your mother was a lie, I am your father" he said in the calmest of tones. There was a silence.

"Daddy?" He squeaked, starting to cry. Jack let a few tears fall as well, as he nodded, letting his hand drop from matt's chin. Matt threw himself into Jack, wrapping his arms around Jack's neck. Jack smiled, and let the tears flow from his eyes freely then as he wrapped his arms around his son.

After that whole thing was over things got back to relative normality. Richard had walked in on Nat, Jack, Matt, and kristi watching tv. He was weary at first, thinking about what his son would say to him about him knowing about Matt before Jack did. But to Richard's suprise, Jack said nothing, acted as if it had never happened, which put Richard at ease. Nat and Jack had planned out how this was going to work out, since he couldnt really leave the house. They explained it to Matt, not all of it, but enough to keep Matt quiet about Jack. Matt would spend his days with Jack, and Nat would pick him up at night. Richard would go out during the days, doing whatever, knowing that Jack would propably want some alone time with his son, make up for lost time. And Kristi started school again the next day, and would be gone most of the day as well, leaving Jack and Matt alone. Just the way Jack wanted it. He was happy to say the least about this plan.

The next day, Nat dropped Matt off at Richard's house, as he just left himself.

"Daddy!" Matt flung into Jack's knees wrapping his arms around Jack's waist. Jack stumbled back slightly, he wasnt fully back to what he was before, and was still healing. Jack smiled and patted Matt's head as he moved inside more with Matt. 

"Dont I get a kiss goodbye Matt?" Nat asked, kneeling down. Matt pulled away from Jack, almost reluctantly and moved over to his mother, kissing her and wrapping his arms around her neck.

"Be a good boy for your dad alright?" She said to him.

"Yes Momma" He said pulling back and moving back over to Jack.

"Ill be back around 6ish okay?" Nat said to Jack.

"Alright" Jack nodded, smiling at her, as she left.

He closed the door behind Matt, who had wandered off into the living room. Jack followed him, and found him in the living room sitting on the couch.

"So what do you wanna do?" Jack asked moving over to him and sitting down. He watched Matt, he looked as if he wanted to say something but wasnt.

"Whats up buddy?" Jack asked. Matt looked to Jack's hands, then to his face. Being on the very edge of asking what he wanted to ask.

"You can tell or ask me anything, Matt" Jack said, knowing full well he wanted to say something. 

"Uhh...Why do you only have...6 fingers? I have 10 fingers, arent you suppose to have 10 fingers?" He asked. Jack was silenced, stunned, shocked. He lowered his head, looking down at his hands. 'why did he have to ask that' Jack thought to himself, thinking on how he shall answer this.

Matt moved his hands slowly, placing them on one of Jacks' hands. Matt's hands were small, it took both of his hands to hold Jack's one frail, gaunt looking one. Matt gripped it gently, suprisingly gently for a 4 year old. Jack was amazed that Matt could tell they propably hurt, he was incredibly insightive(sp?), intelligent, and mature for his age. Matt moved the hand towards him, at the will of Jack, and ran his hands around Jack's hands. He figured by the long silence that Jack was thinking on how to put it to him, and figured it was not going to be the real 'truth'.

"Did the bad guys hurt you?" Matt hit the core of the real answer without even thinking about it. He watched the super hero cartoons thinking his father did the same thing. Jack looked at him in shock.

"Yea..." That was all Jack could say. Matt was right in so few words, and hopefully that would satisfy his answer. Matt continued to examine his hand for a few minutes then looked up to Jack, letting go of his hand.

"The bullies hurt me too" He confessed. Jack looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean, Matt?" He asked. 

"The bullies at the day care I went too. They were mean. They pushed me around because I am short" He was honest with Jack. Jack frowned.

"Have you told anyone about this?" Jack asked.

Matt shook his head. "only you" He answered. Jack sighed heavily.

"Matt, You gotta tell people when these bullies are being mean to you. What they are doing to you is wrong. Understand?" Jack instructed. Matt nodded. 

"Good" Jack placed his hand on Matt's head, patting it slightly, smiling.

"Lets watch some tv" Jack changed the subject, grabbing the remote off the table and flipping the tv on.

"Yeaaahhh" Matt yelped with joy.

_That night... _

Kristi walked threw the door and slipped off her shoes with her feet alone. She was an expert at that. She glanced at the clock from the corner of her eye, it was 10pm. She had just gotten home from the movies with her friends. The house was dark, silent. She didnt hear Richard anywhere, and assumed he was out, but She knew Jack had to be there somewhere, propably asleep, so she tip-toed the best she could to her room, flicking the light on and dropping her backpack off. She then went towards the bathroom, but stopped to see Jack's door was opened slightly, and she also soft sobbing coming from it.

She took a deep breathe, and slowly edged towards it, opening the door more, peeking in. Light from her bedroom shone threw the hallway into Jack's room slightly, she didnt see anything within the confines of the light showing in the room, the rest was dark, but she heard Jack.

"Uncle Jack?" She called out softly, reaching for the lightswitch. The sobbing sound stopped, and went to sniffling, like he was trying to stop crying but couldnt. Kristi flipped the switch on and found Jack on his bed, trying desperatly to conceal the fact that he had been crying.

"Are you okay?" She asked moving towards him. He looked over to her, his eyes had dark lines under them as if he hadnt been sleeping in several weeks, and his eyes were red and tired looking.

"Yea..." He tried to put a smile on his face for her, to make her go away, but it didnt work.

"Dont lie to me Uncle, I can read you like an open book" Kristi got right threw it, hobbling over to his bed, and sitting on an unoccupied spot.

"Your too much like your mother, you know that?" Jack smirked, he sniffled some more, as if he were to start crying again. He rubbed his watering eyes more.

"Whats the matter?" Kristi asked.

"I wont be able to be normal again..." He said looking away from her, trying his hardest not to break down again.

"Thats even if President Palmer gets my name cleared..." That was when he started to cry again, putting his hand over his nose and mouth.

"Uncle, you can be normal again" Kristi answered back softly.

"Like this? Kristi, have you actually looked at me? I have 6 fingers!" Jack went off on her.

"Uncle Jack, Have you seen me? I have a fucking cane! A 13 year old having a cane. Do you think it was easy for me to return to school!" Kristi shot back, letting silent tears run down her own face. That was the first time Jack ever heard her swear, but didnt want to say anything. He was silenced.

"If I can do it Uncle. You can to. I can help you. Grandpa can too, as well as Nat. Things will get back to normal" Kristi was too good for her own good, Jack decided. She did make him feel better though. She would make a good psycharist, the thought ran threw her head. 

"Come here" He sniffled, placing his arm around her and pulling her close for a hug.

"Thank you" He whispered, placing his chin on the top of her head.


	4. Chapter 4

A month passed by like nothing, at least Jack thought so. His days with Matthew during the weekdays, just having some good quality time with him alone, was alot, it helped him heal emotionally. Richard was there sometimes though, when he couldnt find anything to amuse himself during the day. Kristi was off at summer school trying to complete what she had missed last year, so she was gone all day. Nat came back to the house around 6pm, and they all ate together. Kristi would look after Matt sometimes during the night, leaving Nat and Jack alone, to work up their relationship again. It was stronger then it ever had been. Jack was happier now days, and all of them noticed. Now they were just waiting for Tony to call with the news that President Palmer had cleared his name and he would be able to go outside again. 

Now it was time for Matthew to start kindergarden, Jack wouldnt be able to see him til after he got done with school. It was an all day kindergarden, so the bus wouldn't drop him off til 3:30pm. Jack didn't know what to do, no one was around, he had just his thoughts to occupy his time. He tried to sleep in, but couldn't sleep past 9am. He tried watching tv, but the day time shows and soap operas didn't interest him that much. He paced around the house, thinking how matt's first day was going. He thought about other things too, but tried to focus on happier things. He coudn't and nearly ended up breaking down, he really couldn't handle being alone anymore. Past memories and nightmares racked his mind at the worst of times, especially when he was alone.

Finally 3:30 came around, much slower to Jack's dismay. He sat on the couch watching the window for the bus to pull by threw the blinds. Within a few minutes the bus had came finally. A bunch of young kids, about matt's age came off. Matt was in the middle of the crowd of little kids, which dispersed quickly as they ran off heading to their houses. Matt was holding a clump of papers, starting to cross the street, when the bus pulled away, with a few taller, older even, kids looking in Matt's direction.

Jack watched in Matt about to go off the curb to cross the street as the taller kids gained up on him, pushing him from behind. Matt fell forward with a shout of suprise. The papers he was holding flew from his grasp as he went face first into the cement of the sidewalk. The taller kids, surrounded him, grabbing his papers and looking at them. Jack couldn't hear them, but knew they were taunting him. Matt was on his hands and knees, reaching desperatly for the papers in their hands, shouting at them. Jack wanted to interfere, but he also didn't want to be known that he was there at that house. He watched them taunt matt, as more rage built up. They were playing keep away from Matt, who was on his feet now, tears streaming down his eyes, and some blood trickling down a cut above his eyebrow that he had recieved from falling down. Matt was shouting at them, trying to get the paper away from them. Matt had gotten closer and closer each time to getting it away from the one boy, and the boy could see that. Finally the boy pushed him back, obviously stronger then Matt, the boy had pushed Matt off his feet and onto his butt. Matt looked up at them as they closed in then. 

Jack couldn't take this anymore, not realizing silent tears were running down his face from this treatment. He had to do something, even if it risked his own safety, because he knew the kids would go home tell their parents, and he would be exposed. Jack got to the door and opened it, sheilding his eyes slightly from the sudden natural light that hit his eyes instantly and blinded him for a second, finally he got a good look, seeing the kids were kicking Matt, who was curled up into a defensive ball.

"Stop!" He shouted in an outraged tone. He moved over there, glaring at the older boys who had looked like they just shit in their pants, and backed away. Matt looked up with teary eyes, smiling seeing his father coming to save him. Jack looked at the kids as if he were about to kill them. They sprinted away as if they were deer caught in the headlights. Jack watched them run away as he moved towards Matt. His expression softened as the kids were out of view, he looked down at Matt, who was now sitting on his knees, rubbing the tears from his eyes, and looking at the papers that were crumpled up around him. 

"Are you okay, Matt?" He asked kneeling down to him.

"The drawing I made for you is wrecked..." He said sadly, picking up the piece of paper that was crumpled, tworn and dirty now.

"Its okay buddy" Jack said holding out his hand to help Matt to his feet. Matt sighed heavily, and stood up with the help of Jack.

"It was really good though..." Matt looked down in defeat.

"Dont worry about it" Jack said, leading him into the house and closing the door behind him.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Jack asked. Matt nodded still slightly depressed that his drawing was wrecked.

"Where?" Jack asked looking down at him, as Matt sat down on the couch. Matt pointed to his forehead where his cut was, as well as showing Jack the scratchs on the palms of his hands, silent tears of pain fell down the child's face. Jack placed his hands on Matt's face, wiping away his tears.

"Everything will be okay" Jack said soothingly. Matt kept frowning.

"They will keep coming after me though..." Matt said doubtfully and fearfully.

"I wont let anyone hurt you" Jack smiled weakly.

"Promise?" Matt asked with pleading eyes as well.

"I promise" Jack said, kissing him on the forehead, being careful of avoiding his cut.

"Lets take care of your owies now" Jack said, standing up and going off to get some first aid supplies.

Things got better for Matt at school and after, since the incident. Jack figured the kids were just scared of what he would do to them. He thought he was rather light on the older kids, he could have done so much more, it suprised even himself that he didnt do more. But he shrugged it off, things were better now, he get picked on that Jack knew of at least. He seemed as happy as he was when he got to spend the whole days with Jack.

It had been 3 months since that incident, and now Matt had a day of for some misc. reason. Nat dropped him off at Richard's place, and spent a few minutes with Jack. She was starting to get a little bored now, not being able to go out and do anything with Jack, he had to stay in the house. She could tell it was eating at him somewhat too. Or at least it showed in his movements, his skin had gotten extremely pale, since he wasnt in the sunlight often. He moved around slower as the days past by, his formly toned muscles, which Nat found really sexy, were getting smaller. Use them or Lose them was a literal term now for them. But then again he didnt need them either, it wasnt as if he was doing the stuff he was doing before.

It was around lunch time now Matthew was sitting at the table, talking in rapid fire like a normal 5 year old does. Jack sometimes wondered when he stopped to take a breathe. Jack was making a couple of peanut butter sandwichs for them, just listening to Matt ramble on about everything.

"...And that was when Ms. Ryley gave me my gold star!" He finished his story as Jack laid the sandwich infront of him.

"Ms. Ryley seems nice" Jack commented. Matt had already had the sandwich in his mouth taking a bite from it. He pulled it back as he was chewing.

"Yep...she really a nice lady" He said with a full mouth.

"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full..." Jack corrected. 

"Okay..." He swallowed this time before he said it, then took another bite.

Jack took his sandwich in hand and started to bite into it as well, when suddenly the door was kicked down. Jack immediatly stood up, looking at the doorway, as 4 men in black came in. He saw them before they saw him and he ducked down behind the wall, grabbing Matthew in half bite, as he half yelped in the suprise movements. Jack put his hand over Matt's mouth to keep him quiet. The men heard it though, and started towards them. Jack pulled Matt along, retreating back into the hallways of the house, into the back room, which was his father's bedroom. He shut the door. He knew the second he shut it that they would know he was there. He let go of Matt then and looked around for something to put infront of the door. Matt was watching him scramble, and getting frightened himself.

Jack found a chair and was about to put it against the door when the men pushed themselves in, finding the 2. Jack instinctively put himself infront of Matthew, staring at them menacingly.

"Hello Mr. Bauer" The one said, his handgun trained on Jack's head. Jack remained silent. Matthew peeked his head around Jack to see the men with guns.

"Who's the boy?" The man said, they were not expecting a child to be there. Maybe Jack's father, or niece, but not a child of this age. 

"Hes just a neighbor kid" Jack lied. Matt looked up to him in confusion. The man saw this and walked up to them. The man knelt down to Matt's level, Jack's eye never leaving him.

"Is he lying?" The man asked Matt. Matt looked up to Jack as if looking for an answer. The man grabbed Matt forcefully by the chin and moved him to be looking at the man again.

"Dont look at him, just answer the question" The man hissed. Matt started to cry.

"Dont touch him!" Jack hissed in a low tone.

"Im not talking to you right now Mr. Bauer, only the kid." The man said, pointing his hand gun at him, warningly. Jack glared at him.

"Now is he lying?" The man asked Matt again. Matt nodded slowly, tears flooding down his eyes. Jack sighed heavily.

"What is your relationship with him?" The man asked. Matt tried to pull away but the man held him firmly.

"Hes my dad..." He muttered. Jack let out another heavy sigh. The man looked back to the other men.

"Take him" He commanded as 2 came forward. The man let go of Matt's chin and stood up looking to Jack again.

"Honesty kills doesnt it?" He smiled, putting the gun to Jack's chest and firing. Jack fell backwards onto the ground. Matt screamed trying to go towards his fallen father, but the men grabbed him by the arms before he could and dragged him away.

"Hes gonna be out for awhile, get him to the truck" He commanded the other person who didn't help with Matt's capture. The gun was a tranquilizer gun that was built to resemble a real hand gun. The tranquilizer could easily put anyone out for several hours, even a day at max.

"Help me with his legs" The man said grabbing Jack's arms. The other one grabbed his legs, as they lifted him and carried him out, following the men who had matt, who was struggling profusely. The 2 men finally pulled out a sedative in a syringe and put it into Matthew, knocking him out cold. They other 2 men holding Jack, tossed him into the back of the black SUV, along with Matthew. Then they took off, disappearing.

Kristi was the first to come home since the incident. She went through the door as normal, suspecting nothing wrong. Everything was normal as she saw it at first.

"Uncle Jack! Im home!" She called through the house as she closed the door behind her and dropped her backpack in the entryway. No Response. Kristi shrugged it off as she hobbled down into the hallway, heading towards Jack's room. Maybe they were taking a nap. She thought glancing into the living room quick, no one was there. She pulled open Jack's room. No One.

"Uncle Jack? Matt?" She called out in confusion looking into the hallway. Where were they? She wondered to herself, then she saw Richard's door slightly ajar. She raised an eyebrow in curiousity, moving down to it.

She put her hand on it and opened it. The scene before her wasnt normal, she picked that out quickly. She saw the chair was toppled over, and serveyed the ground. She noticed a small red stain. She hobbled over to it and knelt down the best she could to examine it closer. It looked like something smashed into the ground, someone maybe? She thought to herself as she examined it closer, and assumed the worse, it to be blood. What had happened? She asked herself as she stood up slowly again.

"Uncle Jack? Matt!" She called again, tearing through the rest of the house as fast as she could, but turned up neither of the 2. Now she was panicking, where were they? Jack couldn't leave the house. He knew that. What had happened? She kept asking herself, starting to hyperventilate. She scrambled to the phone and dialed Richard's cell phone number.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Grandpa..." Kristi spit out quickly in a hysteric rush.

"Kristi?" Richard asked, wondering what was wrong. By her tone alone he sensed something wrong.

"They're gone!" She was going alot faster then Richard could comprehend.

"Who's gone?" Richard asked.

"Jack n Matt! They aren't here!" Kristi was huffed. Then it donged on Richard.

"Ill be home in 10 minutes, lock the door" He said.

"Okay" She said hanging up and locking the front door quickly. 

Jack came around in a heavy headache, like he had been drinking quite heavily the night before. He was in a half daze, as he went to move his hands to rub his eyes to feel a tight chain around them behind him. He blinked a few times and realized his hands were chained to the back of a chair.

Suddenly a bright light went on in the dark room. He looked down, closing his eyes tightly, being stunned by the sudden brightness, and also him being already light sensitive.

"You thought you could get away..." A man said in chinese Jack shuttered knowing the voice all too well, keeping his head lowered so he was looking at the ground. The man knelt down infront of him, forcefully grabbing his face and forcing Jack to look directly at him. Jack jerked away defiantly from his grip.

"Regained some of your defiant nature?" The man continued in chinese, mocking him almost.

"I never lost it" Jack hissed, in return, also in chinese.

"If I remember correctly, the last time I saw you, you were on the brink of death, begging for it to end" The man said.

"I didn't give into your wishs though" Jack hissed back.

"You were about to. Then that Traitor! that lying traitor, got you out. Your lucky Bauer, you know that. To find the only soldier in the camp that would throw away their honor to their country to save you. Piece of Scum. You won't be so lucky this time" The man said wickedly.

"What did you do to him?" Jack asked.

"To who?" The man asked in return.

"Sasuke! What did you do to him!" Jack demanded. The man before him slapped him across the face hard, making Jack jerk his head hard to the right, making Jack see stars. 

"What do you do when a fellow soldier comites treason?" The man asked, watching Jack wince and slowly in a dazed face go back to face him.

"He was sent to the gas chambers" The man smiled cruely. Jack's eyes went wide in suprise and anger. Sasuke was the only one that had any honor of any of them.

"You Murderer!" Jack screamed in rage.

"He got what he deserved" The man said standing up. "And so shall you get what you deserve" The man laughed evilly.

"I will kill you" Jack hissed with pure venom in his tone.

"Sure you will Jack. How many times have you said that to me and haven't done it yet? Your word isn't really credible" The man laughed.

The chinese man stepped aside. Jack looked forward to see Matt tied to the chair his head limply resting on his chest.

"Matt!" He cried pulling on his chained hands only causing pain to himself. He screamed in rage, as he pulled harder then stopped looking towards the chinese man in pure rage.

"What have you done to him!" He yelled in chinese.

"He's just sedated, dont worry. Hes useful to us, I see now" The chinese man replied.

"Leave him alone, Please, let him go!" Jack begged.

"Why should we let him go? He can be of use. I dont see any help for us if we let him go" The man replied.

"Please, Ill do anything. Just let him go" Jack begged more with pleading eyes.

"O dont worry, youll do anything" The chinese man chirped, as 2 men entered the room. Jack looked at the men as they advanced to matt, and shallowed hard.

"What are you doing?" He asked the man, as the 2 other men grabbed Matt. The chinese man didn't answer.

"Where are you taking him!" Jack hissed.

"He'll be fine for now, worry about yourself" The chinese man said standing infront of him, blocking his view of the 2 men hoisting Matt and taking him away. Jack tried to get his head around the chinese man to see what they were doing with Matt, but couldn't because of his restraints.

The chinese man whistled. 2 different men came into the room after the other 2 had exited with Matt. The 2 men approached the chinese man and jack, one on each side of the chinese man.

"Take him away" The chinese man ordered. The 2 men approached Jack, and undid his chains from the chair and hoisted him to his feet. This was when Jack decided to attack he jerked out of the grip of the 2 men that were both taller then him and launched himself at the chinese man in a fitted rage. Jack managed to tackle the chinese man to the ground, and keep him pinned for a few seconds, before the 2 other men grabbed him and hoisted him back, throwing him roughly to the other side of the room. He skidded slightly on his back to the concrete floor, hitting the back of his head against the wall. He groaned quietly, trying to calm his breathing some, which was now unsteady and erratic.

"Punish him!" The chinese man that he had tackled howled out in rage now. Jack sighed heavily knowing what was coming, he winced slightly trying to scramble to his feet without using his hands, but only got into a sitting up position. The men advanced on him quickly surrounding him. 

Nat came into the house and trotted to the kitchen to find Kristi, Richard, and Tony around the table.

"Who's he?" Nat asked eyeing Tony.

"My name is Tony Almeida. I helped Jack get out of CTU before he could get killed" Tony explained.

"Where are they!" She asked then.

"I think the Chinese might have them..." Tony stated his opinion. 

"But no one knows hes here, how can the chinese!" Nat hissed. Worry for Jack and Matt was definitly evident, and her anger just enforcing it.

"We dont know" Richard said, standing up moving over to her.

"How are we going to get them back!" Nat asked. Richard rested his arm over her shoulder to comfort her as he guilded her over to the couch and sat her down. Tony and Kristi both moved over to them.

"We could put in a missing child report for Matt. But nothing can be said about Jack, until his name is cleared. Hopefully Jack and Matt are being held in the same central area" Tony said.

"And if not? We just can't stand by and let Jack die. Thats exactly whats going to happen, You and I both know it" Nat almost yelled. 

The men threw Jack roughly into a dimly lited small room. He spat some blood out from his mouth and rolled to his side, he couldn't do much more. Every movement now was agonized. He strained to look down at his now battered body, they always over did the punishment. He grimaced as he saw blood pouring slowly from his feet, they had stomped on both feet several times, he was sure both of them were broken.

A tape started playing in the room.

"You are a murder. You are a traitor to your country. You killed your family. You don't deserve to live" is what it said. It kept repeating it over and over. Jack knew this was a brainwashing tool. Why were they trying to brainwash him he thought to himself, as the tape kept replaying.


	5. Chapter 5

_Crying could be heard through the halls of the house. Jack awoke from his restless sleep sitting up in his bed, hearing the child cry. He pulled the covers off him and swung his feet over the bed and rested his barefeet on the soft carpet. The child's cry continued in an urgency. Jack stumbled to his feet quickly. He blinked the tiredness out of his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness. He found the door and ran his hand along the wall as he walked so he wouldn't trip over something._

He reached the source of the child's cries, but found nothing. The cries faded away then.

"Matthew?" Jack called out, searching for him. The house was quiet then. Jack scratched his head in confusion. He rubbed his hand along Matthew's wall, flicking the light on. The light shone through the room, it looked like no one had ever occupied the room. it was barren, none of Matthew's possesions were there. It was like if he hadn't even existed.

"Stop it, Dad!" Matthew's voice called out. Jack jerked his head in the direction of the call, and rushed towards it. The crying commenced again. Jack kept running, but the crying of his son never sounded any closer.

"Where are you!" Jack cried in panic as he kept running blindly into the darkness. The crying faded out again. Jack slowed into a swift walk. The darkness amphlified the erie silence.

Finally a small ray of light shown down. Jack slowed down even more as he saw 2 figures. He finally stopped seeing one standing over the other. He recognized the one looming over the other was himself. A gaunt, sickly version of himself. He was holding a knife, which had a thin layer of blood coating it, dripping down to the ground. Jack's eyes fell down apon the victim. He gasped, seeing his young son laying lifelessly covered in his own blood. 

He awoke in a cold sweat, tears streaming down his face in a river like motion. He was disoriented at first, then became more aware of his surroundings and what had happened. The constant wave of pain filtered from his feet mainly, as well as his torso. He groaned in pain as he shifted into a more comfortable position. He pushed himself into a sitting up right position, leaning heavily on the wall.

That tape had yet to stop playing. It started to become a dull background noise for Jack. He had lost all sense of time, as the tape started over again. His stomach ached from the lack of food. His eyes were sore from the lack of light, and his body ached from the abuse to it earlier. He was exhausted though he had sleep alot. He closed his eyes wearily, as the soft sounds of the tape calmed him into a restless sleep again, as it worked on corrupting his mind more.

"Nothing Yet, Agent Edmunds" Nat hissed in frustration as she hung up the phone again. Richard was sitting on the stool across the counter from her listening to one side of the conversation.

"If the FBI can't find them, then this country is doomed" Richard said half-hearteningly, trying to ease Nat's emotional pain some.

It had been two weeks, and nothing had changed. Nat filed a missing child's report, but could only sit back and watch her own agency conduct the search. She spent much of her time with Richard and Kristi, not exactly feeling right about going home. The few times she did she ended up in Matt's room, holding the picture of Jack that she had given to Matt, sitting on his bed, Sobbing. She spent hours like that, fearing the unknown, fearing for her men's safetly. Half reassuring herself that if Jack and Matt where together, that Jack was doing everything within his power to keep their son safe.

Matthew was sitting on the bed in the room they had placed him in. The room was blue, and it was pretty nice. There was a desk in the corner, with a tv on it. The tv was playing a learning chinese movie.

Matt had to watch and learn Chinese from this movie, he spent four hours a day doing this very thing. There was a woman who was basically Matt's Nanny. The woman was ordered to train Matt to be a servant, and she had only three months to do it. Matt was reluctant to learn this fate, he asked about his father as a greeting to his nanny at first. The nanny was an american, named Sonja. Matt didn't trust at all, first, but after several hours a day and her caring nature, he began to trust her. She was still strict but not any less then his own mother. She had 2 rules, simple rules for Matt to follow.

1. listen and do whatever she or the chinese men said.  
2. don't ask about his parents.

The chinese wanted Matt to completely forget about Jack and Nat. Yes, He wasn't part of the original plan, but they improvised. Pluss Matt was young enough to teach him to be a servant. coughslavecough So basically brainwashing him to think this was the way it always was and not remember his parents at all.

The door opened, a bright light shone in on the frail figure. The frail figure didn't even flinch as the men came in and moved him roughly to a different room. Jack was too out of it to realize they had came in and moved him to a different room.

He came too though when he was set in a chair and slapped twice by the chinese warden infront of him. 

"Do you deserve to live?" The chinese man asked. Jack wearily looked at him, his dullen eyes stared lifelessly at him. Finally he shook his head slowly.

"There is a way to redeem yourself...are you willing to do anything?" The chinese man continued. Jack was slowly fading, it had been so long since he had something to eat, and it was affecting his judgement. Moments passed.

"Answer me" The chinese man hissed, getting impatient. Jack closed his eyes and slowly nodded his head. 

"Good...we will treat you well if you do what we say, and you can redeem yourself." The chinese man chuckled. Jack passed out then.

Nat was sitting in the living room, richard was to her left side. She was crying with her head in her hands and Richard was rubbing her back gently, trying to be comforting.

"We are never going to find them" She cried.

"Sure we will, Nat, just keep thinking we will and we will. Dont be so negative" Richard said, not really feeling too confident himself but he needed to be there for Nat, or at least he felt that he needed to be.

"What if theyre dead already?" Nat asked in a muffled sob.

"If they were, we would have found their bodies already" Richard answered. The phone rang then. Richard sighed heavily and stood up, trotting over to the phone and picking it up.

"What?" He said in astonishment, this made Nat perk her ears up, looking up to Richard.

"Really? Are you sure? ...Thats good!" He said excitedly over the phone. Nat stood up and moved over to him, curious to who he was talking to and why he was so happy.

"Alright See you soon, and Thank you so much!" Richard said then hung up the phone. His sadden expression was gone completely now, he just beamed with happiness.

"What? Who was that?" Nat asked.

"That was Tony. He working with the FBI on this you know. And they had an anonymous call, saying they spotted a boy, that was undoubtly Matthew, with an older woman, going to the store. The caller had a tape of it, substancial evidence Tony said before he explained it was a tape. They can put an ID on the woman hopefully, theyve already identified that it is Matt. They should be able to track down the woman who will lead them to Matt within a day or so" Richard explained. Nat sighed heavily, almost feeling light headed by the ammount of info she was just given.

"They saw Matt? How did he look? Was he hurt?" Nat asked rapidly.

"They said he looked fine from the point of view, even happy" Richard said. Nat rested her elbows on the counter and sighed heavily in relief, soon she will have her boy in her arms again, hopefully. And hopefully Matt will lead them to Jack too.

Jack awoke in from a peaceful sleep to find his surroundings had changed immensely. They were warmer now, then before. The room actually resembled a bedroom instead of a cell. He yawned and sat up glancing around the room. It was alot nicer. He saw a set of cloths on the desk. He moved his feet to resting them on the wood floor, it seemed he had healed completely. Was all that before just a dream? He began to wonder as he slowly stood up, wobbly. Or had they just been keeping him out until he was healed completely. He stumbled over to the desk and looked at the clothing. It was the attire of the clothing worn by the chinese army. He sighed heavily, it wasn't a dream.

"Your finally awake Jack" Someone said in chinese behind him. Jack turned around swiftly, but it was nothing like his old reactions, before everything.

"Get dressed" He ordered. Jack nodded slowly, then turned around to the clothing and started to dress himself in it.

"We're glad that you made the right choice, Jack, it would have been a shame for you to die" The chinese were being nice to him now. He found that quite erie after all the hell that they had just brought him through.

"The Warden wants to see you now, come with me" The chinese guard announced as Jack finished dressing.

Nat paced around the corridor of the FBI headquarters in LA. She was biting her nails nervously, waiting for an answer. They had yet to idientify the woman from the tape yet, or track her. The FBI said they had more important matters but they would get to it. The tape was found 2 weeks ago but they had yet to get anywhere. Nat finally went down to her work place and started to harass some of them, in concern, but they managed to keep her out in the hallway, saying they'd get to work on it soon.

"Sit!" The warden commanded with a stern voice. Jack sat down on the chair opposite of the warden obediently. Jack hadn't realized while he was asleep the chinese continued to brainwash him to obey their every command, no matter his own moral standings.

"Are you ready for your first assignment?" The warden asked. Jack nodded numbly, his now lifeless blue eyes just staring at the warden with complete attention. The warden pulled out a folder, setting infront of Jack and opening it. It had several pictures of woman.

"This woman is plotting to kidnap one of our young servants, I need you to take her out" The chinese warden explained pointing to the picture. Jack looked at the picture for a few long seconds, thinking he recognized that woman from somewhere, but didn't know where. 

"Alright" Jack said, shrugging off where he had seen this woman from. The woman was in fact actually Nat.


End file.
